CNN, MS NOW, Politico say they’ve notified Trump they’re suing over denied White House access

Washington (AP) — CNN, MS NOW and Politico announced on Monday that they had informed President Donald Trump's administration that they intend to sue over being denied access to the White House. The three major news organizations reported on Saturday that they were blocked from entering the White House, just after President Trump declared he was barring them due to coverage he deemed "fake news."

This move marked a significant escalation in Trump's ongoing attempts to restrict news coverage through legal action and administrative decisions, posing a fresh challenge to the First Amendment protections in the United States. Reporters from the three outlets, including CNN's Betsy Klein and MS NOW's Akayla Gardner, and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett, were turned away with their press badges deactivated upon arrival for their duties at the White House.

All three news organizations had previously expressed their intention to pursue legal action, asserting their commitment to defending their First Amendment rights. In a joint statement on X, the outlets stated, "Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists' credentials because it objected to our reporting. Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public's right to independent journalism free from government interference."

Trump's second term has seen an increase in restrictions on certain media outlets, both in court and through regulatory actions. During his presidency, Trump has also directed personal and social media insults at individual reporters, sometimes in strikingly personal terms. The president of the White House Correspondents' Association, Jacqui Heinrich, appealed to the Trump administration to immediately restore the three outlets' access, warning that "the implications extend beyond these organizations: a standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future.

The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably."